Episode 97: Renew NC, Rebuilding from Helene (One Year Since the Storm)
We're joined by Stephanie McGarrah of the NC Department of Commerce for a discussion of resources to rebuild homes that Hurricane Helene damaged or destroyed in the North Carolina mountains exactly one year ago. We cover the Renew NC initiative, its Single-Family Housing Program (https://renewnc.org/), and other relief, including free assistance that NCLM offers, for the people of western NC.
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Transcript
From the North Carolina League of Municipalities, this is Municipal Equation, a podcast about cities and towns.
Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Ben Brown with the North Carolina League of Municipalities coming to you from Downtown Raleigh. So it's been one year now since hurricane Helene, and we've got an important conversation with the state about some programming and resources that affected residents might wanna know about specific to housing, lots of homes lost or in severe disrepair following Helene. So today, we're gonna talk about Renew NC. That's Renew NC. It's an effort within state government toward, recovery. We're gonna talk about it. Again, one year since this awful disaster happened in Western North Carolina. Unprecedented extent of damage for us. More than a 100 lives lost in North Carolina. People's homes and businesses destroyed. And I I know I'm repeating the points that we've been haunted by for a full year now since the storm made its way over the mountain region, which again isn't the typical hurricane track that we're used to. Not that Atlantic storms have to be exclusive to the coast, but we haven't really been calibrated for something so heavy and so far inland, you know, certainly not to this extent. At any rate, the storm left a left a lot to recover from in North Carolina and we've seen various different efforts and assessments of what Western NC needs or still needs. The state is getting the word out about a program called Renew NC. It's a long term disaster recovery effort within the State Department of Commerce. And today, we're gonna talk about the single family housing program that's meant to help people rebuild and rebuild stronger for the future. Prioritizes low to moderate income families in Western North Carolina counties impacted by Hurricane Helene. We're gonna talk about what renew NC does, what folks need to know about applying for help and other things, because even though this is a state run program, working in government means, you know, just generally, you might have people asking you for what the latest is. They'll they'll be approaching their local government officials about resources and what's going on at this point a year out from the storm. We're about to talk with someone from the Department of Commerce about the basics and what we need to know about renew NC to help people rebuild from homes lost in Western North Carolina. Okay. Well, we're joined today by Stephanie Maguera. She's the deputy secretary for the Division of Community Revitalization at the State Department of Commerce. Stephanie, thanks for joining us. We really appreciate it. Thank you for having me. So, Stephanie, we're at the one year mark looking back at Hurricane Helene. There have been many conversations about the resources and help and communication from government and other partners to our communities and the people who are there still feeling the effects of that hurricane. Just to set the tone, and just generally speaking, how did Hurricane Helene affect the Department of Commerce and its mission? Like, where does Department of Commerce fit in with this kind of thing?
Well, in a couple of ways. And first of all, let me just say I'm a native of Western North Carolina, so it's personal for me. Mhmm. I I know we're all looking back and trying trying to see the progress we've made at the one year mark, but it's still painful for a lot of people, me included. I would just say that, generally, the Department of Commerce, our mission is to improve the economic well-being and quality of life for all North Carolinians. And while we did not have the housing component of it, that was something that got added when our division got created in early January by governor Stein when he took office. Certainly, the work that we're doing around community development and disaster recovery is something that is near and dear to Commerce's mission in general. So I think that's been the impact. It's a new division. It's a new role for the Department of Commerce. They've long managed community development block grants, but they had not managed community development block grant disaster recovery, that special allocation that states get after hurricanes or major disasters.
Well, I I really appreciate your connection to Western North Carolina. And I I wanna talk about the specifics of, Renew NC in just a moment and what people need to know right now. But just to to paint a picture of the situation, I'm sure you're keeping in touch with Western NC and specifics like the housing situation and so on. But is it fair to say there's still a lot of recovery need out there, even even a year out?
Oh, sure. And I think what's so hard is that things were destroyed just in a blink of an eye in a few hours with the torrential rains and and the winds and everything up that we had come inland in a part of the state that we've, at least not in my time, we've had happen before. But it's gonna take years to recover. It's not gonna be quick. It's going to be hard, and it's going to be long. And I think that's the hardest message to convey to people is just how long it's gonna take. We've seen it in other states. We've seen, what to do and what not to do. And then, of course, we've learned that in North Carolina as well, but it does take a long time. And I think what can be very hard, and I know your your members know this because they've worked with us on a regular basis when I was previously at the pandemic recovery office and now in this job in helping us tally the damage and really keep track of it. It changes over time as people rebuild, as people recover. And then, again, we're trying to determine what the unmet needs are. So I think what's hard about disaster recovery in our country is that we choose to bring together and sort of patchwork together a lot of different sources of funding. And so making sure you're aware of what the need is and what everybody's getting from different funding sources and try to figure out how to best piece that together in the most efficient way to build back and to be more resilient. And that that's that's challenging. It's tricky.
And, you know, there there are different kinds of groups I know that that have done, you know, groups, efforts, initiative agency agencies and so on helping out somehow in Western NC and helping people and communities recover. What what is Renew NC And what distinguishes it versus all the other, you know, efforts that may be going on in Western North Carolina? Well, that that's a great question. So, the US
Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, as people frequently call it, is responsible for what's called the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Program. And this is really the funding of last resort. And so it's the funding that comes in and can be used towards mostly housing, but also some community infrastructure from economic revitalization and a few other uses, to meet the unmet needs to help address what has not yet been addressed. So, normally, I mean and it's by design supposed to be very slow funding. Like, we technically didn't get the allocation, I think, from Congress until late December and then early January when we found out from HUD how much money we were gonna get as a state, which is 1,400,000,000.0. And then the city of Asheville also got their own allocation. They were the only local government in Western North Carolina to get their own allocation. HUD bases that calculation after congress makes the appropriation on FEMA applications, so individual assistance, public assistance, and then small business assistance, loan, and other applications. And I think they based it on October numbers. So, I mean, as we know, again, some part of the state has never really experienced a major hurricane before. People didn't really know what to do. So I'm not We remain concerned as a state that we haven't gotten enough money, that this is not going to actually address the unmet need, that they based it on a time when we wouldn't didn't have a lot of applications, and we knew there was a lot more out there that people needed help with. So it's really meant to be the funding of last resort. Now we are moving as a state at a very rapid pace. That sounds crazy to say to people who live in Western North Carolina because it's very slow in real time, but in government time, we're actually moving very quickly. So we've already and we've allocated the money, 807,000,000, to single family housing to help repair homes for the poorest of the poor who don't have any other resources to get their homes repaired or reconstructed in some cases. Multifamily housing, so to repair and or to improve capacity for rental housing for multifamily, so apartments, duplexes, things like that. And then a need that sort of beyond because you can use money for housing, and that's really where HUD wants to see you put a lot of your resources to, try to address the affordable housing shortage in Western North Carolina. So building homes that folks, workforce housing for ownership can buy so people at the, again, lower end of the income range could have a chance to own their own home. And then a 194,000,000 into community infrastructure, which is really meant to be geared towards local governments and assets or infrastructure that they cannot get covered under FEMA public assistance. We know there's a lot of problems right now with how FEMA is providing money and and saying that what the assets were worth that were destroyed from local governments. And, really, this this HUD money is supposed to bridge the gap. FEMA allows you to build back to what you have had, and this is supposed to really build back to what you need. So, again, it's that patchworking together of the different funding sources. And then lastly, 111,000,000 in economic revitalization, which is really to help address some of the commercial districts, that were flooded or damaged, and try to get them back on their feet. And that can go to various it can't go to local governments. They could be a subrecipient, but it can also go, you know, to nonprofit organizations as well. So
So the the the the totals you mentioned, that there was the the if I saw the numbers right, the 1,400,000,000.0, then the 800,000,000 sum for I I think you mentioned that was, for for housing. Was that single family? Or
And it's the 1,400,000,000.0. That's broken down. It's not 807,000,000 in addition to the 1,400,000,000.0. If you take 1,400,000,000.0, break it down, 807,000,000 in single family housing, 191,000,000 in multifamily housing, 53,000,000 in the workforce housing program, 194,000,000 in community infrastructure, a 111,000,000 in economic revitalization, and then 5% for administration.
So is is there a a chunk of that money that's already spoken for? Has a lot of that been programmed? Or but what what's the nature of,
I I guess the money and kind of where it's going right now? Are are people applying for it? Or how's how's all that looking? So the only applications that we have out there, we were able to get started on this because the legislature appropriated money to us in March. We we didn't actually get a grant agreement with HUD until the July, August. So we don't have any of the federal money right now. We have to go through this very bureaucratic process in which Yeah. Apply for it, report to them, and set up programs and policies and procedures. So we were able to get started on the single family housing program because of we got that money, the 120,000,000 from the legislature in March. And so we were able to contract with a vendor. The vendor's name is Horn, that is setting up and our call centers, going out into communities, trying to get people to apply for the single family housing program. The rest of the programs, the four multifamily workforce housing, economic revitalization, and community infrastructure, We are in the process of setting up, policies and procedures for those. We don't have any state funds for those, so we could not even get started until, you know, we got the grant agreement and stuff. We we kinda started our policies and procedures beforehand, but we couldn't, you know, make award any contracts or do anything like that until the August. And so we are working on those to set up the policies and procedures. We've been coming out and meeting with local governments. You know, we've had multiple information sessions in partnership with the League of Municipalities, with the Association of County Commissioners, with the School of Government, and with the five councils of government that are out in Western North Carolina to get information from local governments to understand what their needs are and, to try to make sure that our programs address those needs.
Okay. Yeah. I wanna talk more about the the local government piece of it and the the the role of town hall, and and and the counties and so on. But, you know, thinking about some end user questions, since we just talked about, the money and and and the intention. Let let's just say I'm a person out in Western North Carolina, lost my home in Helene, or maybe it was severely damaged, and I've heard there's some help from the states. Someone mentioned renew n c to me as something to look into. Where do I start as that affected homeowner? Do I go to my city hall and or do I call a number at the state or how do I properly get the information I need and maybe apply? There's multiple ways for you to do that. So you can go you can apply via email,
which is helenerecovery@renewnc.org. You can go to the website, which is renewnc.org. You can call, which is +1 (888) 791-0207. You, we also have three local intake centers, and those locations could be found at renewancy.org, but they're in Asher, Marion, and Boone. And then we have pop up centers, across well, I think we have 11 right now, and those change over time. But there are multiple counties, like Allegheny, Caldwell, Haywood, Henderson, Wilkes. And then we also go to events. So if you're, you know, like at the Mountain State Fair, we have a table. We have a booth there this week. And so that we've also been going around speaking with various, nonprofits, we've worked with the long term recovery groups, we've, met with various organizations and gone to various communities to talk, to folks. I would say if you have a local government who want who thinks they have a lot of folks in their communities who need help or should even apply for it and you want us to come and talk to them or you wanna have an event, we would be happy to come and do that. You just need to email that helenerecovery@renewency.org, and we'll be there. So we've made a really concerted effort through Horn, the vendor that we hired, to hire local folks from Western North Carolina. We've had, I think, three hiring fairs and, then set up these centers and have them where people can come in person, but also be in in person events and then, obviously, web and phone too.
So, and just continuing to to play the part of, the the quote unquote end user, the the person who might directly benefit. Does this mean my destroyed home is gonna get rebuilt like it was before? Or what are the end results looking like for maybe somebody like me who might be affected in Western North Carolina? Well, that's a great question. It depends on whether or not you qualify on the basis of income.
So we we are worried that we're not gonna have enough money. We're running at about 2,700 applications right now. We think we can have enough money to repair two to 3,000 homes. So you have to submit documentation, which our folks walk you through what you need and what it looks like and how you get there to make sure that you are the homeowner. You are you do own the home. That was your primary residence, so, you know, we're not preparing secondary residences or things like that. And, we're the people we're starting with first are 60% or less of area median income, and the second priority is 80% or less. And then the last priority is a 120% or less. And so all that information you can get on the web and also our folks who are helping you with your application. They'll sit down and talk through what you need.
Okay. So so was that like a caseworker who gets assigned to me if I apply for for assistance or help? They do. You get a caseworker assigned to you, and then they'll help you work through the process,
you know, make sure they understand your needs. In terms of what you get out of it, no. It will probably not look like the house that you had now. What we do is we look at what you had. We, give you something that's a replacement. We to keep calls down candidly and to not repeat some of the mistakes that North Carolina had in the past. We have three different floor plans, which are choice for each level of home. So you have two bedroom, two bath, three bedroom, two bath, four bedroom, two bath. And that's, there are a lot of, as you can imagine, federal rules and regulations that we're required to follow and things that we have to do, to make sure that we can comply and use the federal money. So for some people I I mean, I think you should apply if you think at all you would qualify and you're interested. And even if you think you won't qualify, but you can get online and submit your information. We'll tell you if you don't qualify, if you don't meet the income levels or things like that. But, I know some people have had their homes repaired or replaced by nonprofits, and that is certainly fine, and that is certainly a reasonable option. And I would just say it's gonna take all of us working together. This federal money, it's probably more than what we can get from the nonprofits, but it does have a lot more cumbersome rules and requirements that we have to meet in order to be able to use the money.
I I know, in maybe some other aspects or or other programs I've heard of, there's been maybe some hesitancy sometimes too,
for to to accept help or maybe, you know, what am I trading if I do accept help? What's what's your message, to that kind of potential mentality? Well, I understand that, and I think a lot of people do have a hard time accepting help. But the way I look at it as a Western North Carolinian is I've been paying taxes ever since I started working, and my taxes have gone into rebuilding the Eastern Part Of North Carolina, and I don't have any regrets about that. I really care about our neighbors in Eastern North Carolina, but we've rebuilt out there a lot. And now it's Western North Carolina's turn. I wish it weren't our turn. I wish we didn't have this, but it is. And so there's no problem or harm in you using the tax dollars that you've been paying the entire time you've been working to, receive the benefits that others around the country and in our neighbors in the East have received.
So what do you recommend to local governments, anyone in city hall working and listening to this, or someone who might be holding elected office, wondering what their role might be in this, and whether it's some kind of action or just getting the word out, or what what where does local government come in? I think it's outreach. So, you know, our local government partners have been great in helping us understand what the damage has been to homes in their county,
but they're also gonna know people that need help that that may or may not have gotten help. I think my biggest concern is we're only accepting applications through the end of the calendar year, and we did that because in the past, they've kept the application open so long and then, you know, it's it's hard when you go through the list of priorities. You You can't start moving to priority two if you haven't closed your applications. You can't, you know, know what you need to work with. And so we are closing the applications at the end of the calendar year, and so my concern is that people think they have another option, then it falls through, and they didn't apply for this program. So, you know, if it were me, I would rather apply for multiple programs, and then you always have the choice to turn it down. So before a homeowner has to accept what we're offering them, we show them the floor plans. Once they're eligible, we show them the floor plans. We show them, you know, what finishes and stuff are available. We show them what it would look like on their land, and then they figure out if that's what they want. And if they don't want it, they do not have to accept it. It's not like a forced thing. I think my bigger concern would be somebody thinks they're getting help from a neighbor or from a church or from a nonprofit, and then something happens and it falls through. If that's the case, then they haven't applied for our program and the application window is closed and they'll lose out on their ability to apply for it. So I think for local government officials, you know, they may know folks that are out there who need help, or they may know people in communities that we need to come talk to and explain the program and answer questions. And, so let us know who those people are, where those communities are. And I do. I spend a lot of my time doing that. I'm actually going out next week for Buncombe and Henderson and Haywood Counties to go talk to some folks there too, and we're always willing to do that whether it's me, whether it's a different, you know, part member of our team or a member of our, folks out in Western North Carolina. We're happy to do it, and we we want to meet people. We wanna make sure that they know what's available to them, try to answer their questions. And if they are eligible and want to apply and think they need assistance, we really want them to apply.
Is there anything I didn't ask about or sometimes, you know, things get lost in conversations like this or, maybe some nuance or something I didn't know to ask about. Is is there anything that comes to mind, in that respect?
You know, I think not that I can think of. I just think that we are, we're really trying to help our neighbors. We're really trying to help people get through recovery. We've already repaired our first home. It wasn't as hard, I think, as people thought it was. It it can be a complicated program, so I get it. But we helped a woman in in Fletcher, miss Waters, and, her daughter helped her. She's gotten her her first, her home completed. They did ceiling rehab. They did new door installation. She had some water in her house. And so repairing that for her and getting her, back out and ready to, you know, live in a in her home and not have the challenges with mold and mildew and things like that. So I just think, you know, making sure we are trying to get the word out. We are trying to have some early successes so people can see what it's like. I think that's what matters really. You don't need to see that somebody's gotten their home repaired, that it's worked. And, obviously, construction takes if you have to start from scratch, it takes longer. The other thing I would want, local governments to know is that we we know that permitting, they're seeing an influx of permitting as nonprofits and others repair homes and people repair their homes. We know this is a large chunk of money and we'll at some point when we get started in full here, we have to go through all the federal environmental reviews, so it takes a little bit of time to get started. But once we get started, we know that there will be a lot more, work on their plate. So we are trying to work with the league and the Association of County Commissioners and the COGS, to let them know what's coming so that they can we can kinda work together. And if they need help with the permitting part, they need help, you know, with services to these residents that we work through that with them so they know it's coming and it's not a surprise. So I think that's kind of the other piece of it that's sort of local government specific.
And we've been talking mostly about the the the housing situation and and relief for that. I don't wanna get away without talking about other things that you you might be wanting to get the word out about, any other resources that people might be able to tap or programs or anything like that that maybe address other areas.
Well, I would say, you know, don't I think it's really confusing to know who funds what and how that's going. So it's it's always okay to ask us. Even if it's something that we're not handling, we can help you, and, you know, try to put you in touch with our partners. Governor Stein has taken very much a a very interested, approach to making sure that we all coordinate across state agencies that we work together. So, you know, when we get into infrastructure, it's gonna involve DEQ. It's going to involve, potentially other state agencies as well with DOT. And so just know that we're gonna work together. It's okay to not know which person to ask the question to. Just ask us, and we'll get you to the right part of state government. I know that can be confusing. And then it doesn't help when you add the various federal funding sources. I think that I've heard a lot of anxiety from local governments about FEMA public assistance not reimbursing them for what they expected or even the cost that they have, and I think that is a concern that we all have. But, again, that's something that we need to raise so that we can continue to work with our congressional delegation and others to to get that message out there. Again, we're in this together, and so we wanna make sure that we're all working together. And so it's okay to share concerns or things that you're experiencing, and let us know so that we can share it with the right the right folks and try to get resolution if we can. I mean, these are difficult, intractable problems in some cases, and and, you know, we're facing some long term challenges. But I think with our persistence and our willingness to work together, we will find a way to sort through this. I can't promise you that we'll find a solution to every problem, but we will at least try.
And and that was a great point you made about, the sort of distinct pieces of governments and and working together. And sometimes to somebody on the outside who's just living their life, you know, it's the government, you know, it's it's it can be kind of one nebulous thing. So if if I'm someone who maybe doesn't have the the the map in my mind about, you know, different departments and divisions, I mean, could I just Google renew n c and get on a good trail to, to get the kind of information I need?
We might not have every information on our website, but if you email us at that helenerecovery@renewnc.org, we will get you to the right place. So even just in the last couple weeks, I've gone out. We've divided up our local governments, and I've gone and met with, I think, eight of them. And, you know, they had issues that weren't related to our programs, but I could go ask DOT or I could go SDIT or I could go SDEQ and find out what the answers were to their questions and make them aware of it. So I I think, you know, I would worry less about who you're supposed to contact and just get your question asked. Right. And let's see if we can find the right person to help you.
And that email address one more time? It's helenerecovery@renewnc.org. Gotcha. So that's that's a a a place that anybody could just reach out and directly connect with the state versus maybe sometimes people have questions about, you know, am I talking with a a bot or is this fraud or, you know, there is a lot of paranoia and stuff about this too. Texas, Elon, and Bob.
So, yes, we have real people. We have a rotating series of who who covers it when. So yes.
Very appreciated. Yes. Well well well, Stephanie, thank you so much for this information. I I I know there's probably a lot more to ask about too, and I don't wanna give short shrift to to anything. But, as far as this be being a good chunk of information for our members to know about, and, you know, I asked from kinda like the resident standpoint too because I'm I'm sure local government people are getting questions from residents that they wanna be able to answer. So I I really appreciate the, the the way you went about this and answered our questions today.
Well, thank you. And thank and I'm happy to come back anytime and ask answer more questions and have discussions if that's helpful. So we really appreciate what y'all are doing and look forward to working together.
Well, Stephanie Maguera, deputy secretary for the Division of Community Revitalization at the State Department of Commerce, thank you again for joining us today. Thank you. Okay. So I'm gonna restate some of this info and put it up on the screen. And let me pause the video real quick to remind you of some things the North Carolina League of Municipalities has been offering and work we continue to do following the twenty twenty four storm. Let me tell you, we've got webinars coming up to help out. We've had a number of them already with regard to Helene recovery and resources available for Western North Carolina communities with partners like Wood O'Brien's. On September 30, we've got a webinar on renew NC and economic revitalization. Also on October 7, we've got one on Appalachian Regional Commission grants. You You can find our events at nclm.0rg. There's also contact portals there to us at the league. We've also got a lot of services we're providing free of charge for disaster recovery and support for our towns, catching up on bookkeeping and accounting, workforce capacity and staffing support, cybersecurity assessment and support, grant writing and grant management, legal guidance, project management, planning assistance, and FEMA compliance. That's on our menu of free help to any municipality in need. Get up with us at nclm.org or contact your field rep. Again, stressing the free of charge part for those services. Now let's get right back to the info directly from a new n c that you should know about. This info might apply directly to you or it might apply to someone who needs to know about it so you can share it. Homeowners can apply for the single family housing program online, via email, and by phone, renew nc.0r g or +1 (888) 791-0207. Again, that's +1 (888) 791-0207 or that email address which is helenerecovery@renewnc.org. Again, that's r e n e w n c dot o r g. They also offer in person help at local intake centers which you can via renewnc.org. That's where you can go to find the physical location to go to. And like Stephanie said, they've got tables set up at different events where people can go and learn in person about Renew NC. And again, they say if you want Renew NC to come and visit your area, you can let them know. Go to renewnc.org and reach out. Looking back, we've done a lot and seen a lot in the recovery effort. The NC League of Municipalities has held events, webinars, and so on on different aspects of the recovery, including events we held in person with our county, state, and federal partners shortly after the event. Getting everybody in one room so we're not on different pages. Lots of bonded conversation and work done on this. And, of course, if you're a league member and, you you've been getting our alerts and newsletters and so on, there's the League letter, the need to know newsletter. We've been sharing this info in our various communications here. In fact, the last League letter, which comes out weekly, had info about Renew NC. And as I speak, there was just a recent training session on the community development block grant that Stephanie spoke of. Lots of information, some past webinars and things we have archived for replay that you can access. Just let us know if there's something you need, from us here at The League, and we'll try to get it to you. My name is Ben Brown and you can email me at bbrown@nclm.org. Again, that's bbrown@nclm.org. Thank you for being with us on Municipal Equation where we're always accepting ideas for shows and things you would like us to focus on or sharing stories from your communities. Please share this episode with anybody you think might benefit from it. You can find our podcast and all the mainstream listening services. We'll talk to you on the next one. And in the meantime, thanks for joining us.